News from A-4

January 14, 2019

Happy
New Year to you all. I hope that you enjoyed your holidays & time together.
Thank you to everyone who volunteered to be a chaperone for our trip to the
Museum of Fine Arts. Our chaperone lottery took place yesterday and the lucky chaperones
will be Mrs. Ward, Ms. Straley, Mrs. Crowe, Mrs. Airoso & Mr. Cavanough. Those
who have not yet been picked as a chaperone, you can submit your name again for
our next field trip which will take place toward the end of the school year.

Since
returning from vacation we have been working hard in A4. Here is what we are
working on.

Writing: This week we began learning about the Civil
Rights Movement and what our country was like during the time of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. The students were so inspired by the book we read that they
decide to plan a peaceful protest of their own. During recess they created
signs and marched around the classroom picketing for more recess time. I was so
impressed by their enthusiasm that I took pictures. They are on this website
under the "Class Photo" tab. We will be continue
our research this week on Dr. King and how he influenced Civil Rights. The
final project will be a newspaper article around Dr. King.

Reading: We began a new topic in Readers
Workshop. We are focusing on non-fiction texts and their text features. We are
learning how to find the main ideas in each topic and the supporting details.
Students seem be enjoying reading these texts and expanding their knowledge on
topics like animals, habitats, weather & historical events.

Math: We just completed our topic on graphs & data analysis. This
is the test students took on Thursday. This test went home on Friday in your
child’s homework folder. Our next topic will focus on addition & subtraction and their properties.

*I just wanted to remind you
that your child has complete access to the math lessons and videos for review
through the Envisions website. Their username and password is listed in their
Student Planner.

Science: We began our Lego Engineering
unit last week. We are working closely with Ms. Provensal, our Elementary
Technology Coordinator. We will be planning, designing & building motorized
playground equipment using Lego WeDo kits. We will be following the process
that real engineers do when they develop any invention.

Technology: We use the Chromebooks
regularly for research, math testing, and keyboarding practice. Students have
personal accounts on the keyboarding site, Typing.com. They can continue to
practice this skill at home if they like. Their username and password is listed
in their Student Planner. Keyboarding is a very important skill for students to
practice, even in 3rd grade. As you know this year we will be taking
our MCAS tests on the computer.